What System do you use for what?

[Thames]

Hey Guys, having recently come across a new ruleset called Fantasy Craft, I was wondering what Systems you guys preferred for what games?

Personally I use:

D&D 3.5 Heavily Houseruled for Fantasy (will be getting a copy of Fantasy Craft for High Fantasy)
Star Wars Saga lightly houseruled (more streamlined really) for Star Wars (duh)
GURPS for everything else that doesn't use magic (GURPS magic system sucks majorly), which is mainly Star Trek, Farscape and Star Gate

I'd also ask for the houserules you use but there is already a thread for that (at least I've seen one somewhere)

[Swordgleam]

For me it's less genre, and more feel. 4e D&D for games that involve a fair amount of killing things and taking their stuff. Wushu for less serious, more character-driven games.

[charl]

I am currently using Fudge for pretty much everything.

[Glimbur]

All RISUS all the time.

Seriously, though, I use D&D 3.5 for high fantasy games, Wuthering Heights for socially focused games, and RISUS for everything else, especially casual games or games for new gamers.

[infinitypanda]

Mutants and Masterminds and Riddle of Steel, almost exclusively. Although I'm currently a player in a Burning Empires game, and a fan of RISUS.

Also I like filling things with links.

[Satyr]

Gurps for serious games focused on detailed characters, or games with many supernatural powers, because the Gurps Magic Systems are unmatched in their sheer awesomeness.

Unisystem for conversions and semi-serious business games, especially for
fantasy stuff.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse for a true heroic game, because sometimes it is just awesome to fight against the true bad evil of the world. and being a three meter, fangs and claws ecoterrorist killing machine.

Das Schwarze Auge ("The Dark Eye", the German RPG) for actually good adventure modules, and the social contacts

And D&D for games I don't have to take serious.


I have a vast collection of other games I play from time to time, mostly as oneshots and very short campaigns, but these are the standard fare nowadays. Five years ago, I didn't play D&D at all, but a lot of Shadowrun.

[Totally Guy]

Although I'm currently a player in a Burning Empires game,

How are your experiences with that? I'm thinking of picking up a copy.

I'm running Burning Wheel myself for a character driven city mystery. It's gone a little bit discworld. But that's good too.

[infinitypanda]

It's pretty fun. In my group's experience, it works out best if you aren't quite as strict with scenes as the book suggests. While we still usually limit ourselves to one big combat scene per session, we usually have a ton of color and interstitial scenes.

Also the Firefight rules are amazing. Very cinematic.

[toasty]

DnD 4E for your Cliche Fantasy Games

I haven't played a lot of Sci-Fi, but I think Star Wars Saga Edition is a very, very good Space opera type Sci-Fi ruleset. Plus, Star Wars is awesome.

I also really like Fireborn. Its a shame the system was discontinued so soon, because it really has a lot of potential.

[Kiero]

Wushu for one-shots, a tailored FATE 3 hack for anything longer.

I'll happily play D&D4e, but I won't run it.

[Thames]

or games with many supernatural powers, because the Gurps Magic Systems are unmatched in their sheer awesomeness.

Really? Cause I like the advantages and pretty much everything in GURPS except it's magic system which seems cobbled together and ill-defined ; I understand if you're talking about supernatural advantages which are really well done but the actual spells suck alot IMO, thats why I use it only for games that don't have magic in it.

[Satyr]

There is no default magic system in Gurps. The usual one is ingenous for the tree effect, of spells, which is just a very plausible structure. But even in this system, there is so much variability that it can easily be adapted to pretty much every campaign setting or concept whatsoever. Just combine it with Modular Powers for examle, and you have D&D-style Vancian spellcasting. Combine it with the splat skills and have a very flexible domain based magic.
Yes, it works best if it is used in a high fantasy frame work ,but with a few standard modifiers you can use it just as easily in a different context. Just remember, unmodified magic is pretty dull compared to the vast number of modifiers.

Powers and the like work better, true, but the pwoer system in Gurps is just one of the best parts of one truly great game; stuff like affliction and a few good ideas are just a lot of fun, not only to play but also to create powers. The approach of spells as powers is probably the best ballanced ones, and has the vast advantage that players may develop their own spells and the like.

And the "new" book/path magic system in Thaumaturgy is just really fun, mostly because it is very similar to real world "magic" traditions, and according fluff can be added quite easily. This is the system that feels most like magic and occultism, and is just very well made.

And this doesn't include all the minor stuff like the runes, synthactic magic... not every system or approach may work for every setting, but each of it is good in its specific framework, especially if you adapt it to your ideas and wishes (As you should do. This is Gurps, you you're supposed to think for yourself).

So, for a standard fantasy game, the spell tree system is a good idea. For a game more focused on either balance or player input, the power-based apporach is a good idea and loads of fun. And for a more 'noir' fantasy or a setting in the 'real world with supernatural elements' along the lines of Lovecraft, Faust, or just shamanism, the book/path system works very well.

[Thames]

I'd always hated gurps definitions of the spells as being far too open ended - take i think create fire - just make a big one plonk on someone and they die of suffocation soon enough;

[dsmiles]

Houseruled DnD 3.5e & 4e for fantasy.
Cthulhu 6e for horror/modern.
RIFTS for sci-fi.
Marvel Superheroes (ca. 1983, Expert Set, d% based) or Hero System's Champions for superhero games.
Toon, Paranoia, and H.O.L. for comedy relief.

[Satyr]

I'd always hated gurps definitions of the spells as being far too open ended

Why? Really, I can understand why people wouldn't like the tree system, but the problem is usually the other way around - there are way too many, very specific spells, and because they are all based on each other, they are obligatory as well. But too open ended? These spells are all so self-evident.

[Thames]

I suppose it could be that my own idea of magic fits so perfectly with vancian that im ill-disposed for any other system, but i do like GURPS as a base system as well a futuristic one - I'll make my races in it on a certain point buy then convert to d&d.
Of course it could also be that I've had waay too many of the rules abuse in my games come from the spells - in fact all the abuses came from there. Add to that, that my play style is pretty much do what you can within the rules but use your common sense so we can all enjoy this and magic becomes the only thing where problems can arise (I usually have good players) as it is the only thing where we cant look to the real world and say "is this possible?" which underlines the need for a well defined magic system

[Satyr]

I suppose it could be that my own idea of magic fits so perfectly with vancian that im ill-disposed for any other system

Modular Abilities (B 71) is the Vancian Magic system. Only without levels and classes.

Of course it could also be that I've had waay too many of the rules abuse in my games come from the spells - in fact all the abuses came from there.

I can't think of any Gurps spell who is as easily to abuse than a vast number of D&D spellcasting. There is no equivalent to polymorph cheese. Or automatic level approriate I win buttons. So, of what kind of abused spells do we talk? The dreaded skill level 15, immediate 0 cost 1d fireball?
And if you don't like the spells, why not just use the powers instead?

[Magic] is the only thing where we cant look to the real world and say "is this possible?" which underlines the need for a well defined magic system.

I completely agree with you there, but this is not only a problem, it is a chance. Because of this lack of correspondence, you can make magic as anything you ever wanted it to be.

[IonDragon]

D&D 3.5 for fantasy. I will not run these games though. IDK why, but something doesn't click in my mind. I can not generate plot hooks, or a believable world.
Universal Decay for Super Heroes, Cyberpunk, modern day, and SciFi games. Moderately houseruled.

[bosssmiley]

B/X D&D, WFRP or Runequest for fantasy.
SWd20 for space opera.
Savage Worlds for pulp adventure.
HoL for post-apoc survival.
Encounter Critical for kitchen sink science-fantasy.
Pokethulhu for Lovecraftian Horror.
Ars Magica or Pendragon for chin-strokey cerebral fantasy.

RISUS when I just can't be bothered with anything more complex than "shut up and roll!"

[Britter]

D&D 2e, moderately houseruled, for heroic fantasy
E6 for a slightly grittier fantasy game
Shadowrun 2e/3e, heavily modified to minimize play delays and faciliatet a fast moving style of cyberpunk, usually with an epic world spanning storyline.

I am a huge fan of Shadowrun and it is the primary game I run. Got into it about 14 years ago and never looked back. My favorite system to run, though I have never upgraded my game to the 4th edition ruleset.

[dsmiles]

D&D 2e, moderately houseruled, for heroic fantasy
E6 for a slightly grittier fantasy game
Shadowrun 2e/3e, heavily modified to minimize play delays and faciliatet a fast movign style of cyberpunk, usually with an epic world spanning storyline.

I am a huge fan of Shadowrun and it is the primary game I run. Got into it about 14 years ago and never looked back. My favorite system to run, though I have never upgraded my gmae to the 4th edition ruleset.

mmmmmmmmm....FASA.

[Tinydwarfman]

Really? Cause I like the advantages and pretty much everything in GURPS except it's magic system which seems cobbled together and ill-defined ; I understand if you're talking about supernatural advantages which are really well done but the actual spells suck alot IMO, thats why I use it only for games that don't have magic in it.

It sounds like you don't have Magic or Thaumatology. The one thing I hate SJG for is that they clearly had already made the magic system when they made the core rule books, but made players buy Magic to actually see it in it's completetion. For every other game that doesn't invole magic, we don't need to use anything but the core rulebooks, but if you want to play a game with magic, you NEED the Magic book.
I really do like the GURPS magic system though. I think we just have opposite tastes. I like having open ended spells, but I hate D&D's massive spell lists that all just do 1 thing and nothing else.

Also, I use D&D for fantasy, and GURPS for everything else(including fantasy)

We have been looking at Shadowrun though, and it looks quite cool.

[Satyr]

I am a huge fan of Shadowrun and it is the primary game I run. Got into it about 14 years ago and never looked back. My favorite system to run, though I have never upgraded my game to the 4th edition ruleset.

This seem to be a very common set of mind, as far as I can tell. I remember that previous to the release of the 4th edition, Shadowrun had a very active and vibrant community over here. Now, this community is pretty much shattered a long the lines of the edition preferences, and the old publisher, Fanpro, is more or less bancrupt and sold both his best selling game lines -partially due to the collape of the Shadowrun franchise in Germany, even though new editions have their dificulties here. The German translation of the NWoD was discontinued after a year or so, and D&D4 in only 5 months, after the publication of the three first books.

[Britter]

My problem with 4e Shadowrun had nothing to do with game mechanics and everything to do with the fact that I just dislike the fluff of late 3e and subsequently 4e Shadowrun. 1e and 2e kept things vague and gave the GM a lot of authority to direct the gameworld as he saw fit. The sourcebooks were full of rumor and inuendo about game-world events and it was up to you how your particular iteration of the world would work. It was also a somewhat more gritty and dystopian world, which is a flavor I personally enjoy more than the transhumanist optimism of the later editions.

As the later publishers began to set more and more of those details in stone, and removed the mutability of the world in exchange for an esthablished "offical canon", I lost interest. The last canon event I really like is the death of Dunkelzahn, because his will left more questions then it answered. I don't like being told exactly how the world and the setting are going to go.

Sure, I know you can just write your own story at any given time, but I appreciated the fact that the designers gave us, as game masters, SO MUCH flexibility in how we wanted the world to run. I own a ton of 2e Shadowrun books, and the amount of pure flavor in them is just overwhelming. The splatbooks are flavorful, and the setting books are just works of pure awesome. The late 3e books, like the Cannon Companion, are just pure gear/spalt books. No heart. No soul.

[Satyr]

My problem with 4e Shadowrun had nothing to do with game mechanics and everything to do with the fact that I just dislike the fluff of late 3e and subsequently 4e Shadowrun.

Let me guess: The comet? Spontanious mutations? Characters with freaking kangoroo pouches? That was the jump the awakened megolodon for me, at least.

The sourcebooks were full of rumor and inuendo about game-world events and it was up to you how your particular iteration of the world would work. It was also a somewhat more gritty and dystopian world, which is a flavor I personally enjoy more than the transhumanist optimism of the later editions.

Not to forget: Some of these source books were brilliant and created a strong feeling of tension. My particular favorite is the Universial Brotherhood / Bug City arc, and the original Threats.

The late 3e books, like the Cannon Companion, are just pure gear/spalt books. No heart. No soul.

Look out what you wish for. By the time of the third edition, fanpro was already pulling the strings and so the German version of the Cannon Companion and Man and Machine had their own, additional Shadowtalk added. Which was abysmal mind-crushingly awful and full of repetions of the shadowtalk in older books, only paraphrased, or full of cringeworthy pseudo-humor.

[drengnikrafe]

Strait 3.x. I haven't been gaming long enough to develop any other preferences. I also haven't looked at other books, but I don't know where to find them for a price I can afford.

[Britter]

Satyr, you are absolutely correct. Comet was the last straw for me.

I loved the Universal Brotherhood stuff. Very cool.

[Satyr]

Strait 3.x. I haven't been gaming long enough to develop any other preferences. I also haven't looked at other books, but I don't know where to find them for a price I can afford.

There are quite a number of RPGs you can download for free, to get an impression of what alternatives are out there. Probably the best of those is Witchcraft, based on the Unisystem rules. Obligatory Witchcraft Link.

Comet was the last straw for me.

But whose isn't?
Damn, now I have Shadowrun-induced nostalgia, fondling remembering games where absolutely nothing adventurous ever needed to happen, because it was so much fun to play out every day life.

[Kiero]

Strait 3.x. I haven't been gaming long enough to develop any other preferences. I also haven't looked at other books, but I don't know where to find them for a price I can afford.

You have the internet, and therefore access to hundreds of free games.

[Raum]

@ above - I agree, Universal Brotherhood was a great addition to SR. Also liked the Neo-Anarchists Guides, both the original and the online material.

As for the OP's question, I'll play whichever system my friends want to play. :) If I were to choose systems for their strengths, it would be something like the following:

• Savage Worlds for fast action and a fairly flat power curve
• Shadowrun for detailed gritty games with a moderate power curve
• Over the Edge for extremely light games with little set up required or forum games where you don't want to spend significant amounts of time on mechanics
• Wild Talents (ORE) for high powered games with a strategic focus
• Unisystem for moderate to high powered games while maintaining a gritty feel